(2) Sat Apr 23 2011 05:51around the world in 12 years:
When I first set sail (air) for the Kong in 1999, I flew from SLC west to China. When I flew to India in 2010, I flew East. My flight in 2011 brought me East from India to the Kong. I have now circled the globe!

Today was a drizzly rainy gloomy day. So we hit the streets (one street, Stanley) for some shopping. Stanley Market is on the backside of the island and is a nice drive. I envision Portabello Road to be like Stanley Market. The streets are narrow and covered so it was a nice escape from the rain.

We bought T-shirts for me, Dalton, Sandeep our driver, and James for his upcoming birthday. We also bought Chinese clothes for Susie and the kids, and also for Kyli for her birthday. Also, chopsticks, a parasol umbrella that Maggie is obsessed with, a Lantau taxi and a New Territories mini-bus that Dalton is obsessed with, some scroll paintings, a surprise graduation present for Chad, postcards, jade, jewelry for Kannagi the maid, and probably a bunch of other stuff I've since forgotten about. Everyone had fun and we left before the kids could get bored.

Boy has Stanley changed in the last ten years. Not the market itself, it looks exactly the same. But everything is fixed price now; no more haggling! Which is exciting, but also makes the experience seem less quintessential Asia I suppose. My nephew Logan would probably find a way to blame this change in tradition on the LDS missionaries, because some people are jerks like that. Zing!

We hit Times Square one last time to let the kids play on the trampoline. I won a free camera! Well, it wasn't free, I had to tell a story about my favorite place in Hong Kong, and only because Susie begged me to. And the camera takes 35 mm film, which seems like a step backwards to me. But Dalton really stole the show there. That kid is now on cameras, computers, and facebook posts all over the Orient. I bet his picture was snapped about 200 times today alone, that I noticed. We'll take the camera home for the kids to play with.

We hit CPK again for dinner. Then packed. Tomorrow takes us back to home, er, to India. And I'm ok with that. I've had a rest and it's time to move on. Back to a washing machine; back to home cooked meals; back to a gym; back to Dalton's crib so we don't have to lay with him until he goes to sleep; back to routine. I just hope our driver Sandeep remembers to pick us up at 11:45 pm tomorrow night!